Southern Charm's Thomas Ravenel and Kathryn Dennis are back together? 'They always had this crazy love'
The last twelve hours have been a whirlwind for fans of the Bravo show 'Southern Charm'. Series stars Thomas Ravenel and Kathryn Dennis first sparked reconciliation rumors after being spotted together at a Charleston, South Carolina bash with a James Bond theme, and later Ravenel claimed the former couple is doing just what makes their two kids 'very happy'. The news comes after a rather explosive and erratic three years in the ex-couple's life where they have dragged each other to court, mostly over custody battles for their two kids. From Ravenel labeling Dennis a sex addict to Dennis filing for sole custody owing to Ravenel's physically abusive past, the relationship has been pretty rough and jagged. Here's how the downfall started.
Dennis and Ravenel's relationship started when the former made her TV debut in 'Southern Charm' season 1 in 2014. She was on board first as a guest, and then as a main star in season 2. After being eyed by most of the men appearing on the show, Dennis was eventually won over by the 30-years-senior Ravenel, when Dennis was just 21. It was right then that the show started documenting how volatile Dennis and Ravenel's relationship is. Shortly after, Dennis gave birth to their first child together, daughter Kensington Calhoun Ravenel. In season 3, the then-couple welcomed their son Saint Julien Rembert Ravenel and as was evident, parenthood wasn't a walk in the park for them.
In 2016, things took a murkier turn in their on-again-off-again relationship, when Ravenel was arrested for assault and battery. At the time, Dennis had announced over an Instagram post that the two had officially called it quits and were "never, ever, ever getting back together". Dennis went on to reveal to People, how during her first pregnancy, Ravenel applied extreme efforts in keeping the pregnancy hidden and even separated her from her family and friends during the duration of the pregnancy.
After admitting how she was struggling with motherhood owing to a lack of support from Ravenel, the former couple's relationship turned into an ugly custody battle for their kids, ending with Dennis losing custody of her children as she checked herself into rehab in 2016 after testing positive for marijuana - the same time when Ravenel had accused her of being a sex-addict too. Shortly after in 2017, she surprisingly returned just in time for season 4 of 'Southern Charm' and dove straight into yet another custody battle with Ravenel, which resulted in her failure once again in 2017, as Ravenel was granted full custody of their children.
In 2018, things started looking better for the couple with Dennis regaining 50-50 custody of their kids. To everybody's shock and relief, even though tensions still persisted in the strained relationship between the former partners, the two decided to put on a united front for their children. That, however, was short-lived as Ravenel was once again charged with sexual assault and battery when the family nanny claimed he had sexually assaulted her. Ending their stint in co-parenting, Dennis was driven to file for primary custody of their kids once again in October 2018.
By this time, Ravenel had been dating nurse Ashley Jacobs for a year, and soon she was on 'Southern Charm' too, stirring major disruptive drama in Ravenel and Dennis' co-parenting. Jacobs verbally abused Dennis on the show and even took jabs at her parenting techniques, which she claimed were under Ravenel's encouragement - something the man has denied since. This drove the rest of the stars on the show to back Dennis, and finally, after the 2018 charges against Ravenel, she proceeded to file for full custody of her kids.
All water is seemingly under the bridge between Jacobs and Dennis now, and probably the same can be said about Dennis and Ravenel too, given the recent reunion. But Ravenel maintains his stand on the rekindling romance rumors. He tweeted in response to a fan's curiosity about them dating again, saying: "No, we’re doing some things together because it makes the kids very happy to see us getting along. And in this matter, our interests are perfectly aligned."
Sources have however revealed to People: "There's that spark, and they're letting themselves explore it right now. It started with co-parenting, but it quickly grew into something more. She feels comfortable with him again, and they've both kind of tossed aside any other relationships they had for each other." The source also added: "The thing with them is, this all can change in two days. That's how they are. It's always so up and down. Right now it's up and in a very good place. It's not like they've defined their relationship and that they're back together right this second, but that's very much what's happening."
Speaking about their 'very magnetic relationship' and how they 'always still loved each other, no matter what they were going through', the source concluded: "It's like they're drawn to each other," The source went on to say, "Whenever they're in a room, the way they look at each other, they've always had this crazy love."